Search Results for: Ontario
Understanding the Future of Skills: Trends and Global Policy Responses
Publication
In our first Skills Next report, we look at top research and skills training programs that are succeeding internationally, and highlight for Canadian policymakers key features driving success. Authors Sunil Johal and Michael Urban distill key lessons for Canada to ensure workers are equipped with the skills they need to thrive in tomorrow’s economy, whatever shape it takes.
Date: Monday January 20, 2020
Old Gigs, New Gigs: Are Courts and Legislators Reinterpreting an Age-Old Debate for the New World of Work?
Publication
Courts and legislatures are deciding whether your Lyft driver is an independent contractor or an employee. The classification is a big deal, affecting workers' protections through to retirement. This paper surveys the current state of the gig economy and how courts, tribunals and legislatures in North America and the UK are tackling the issue of employment classification.
Date: Monday September 30, 2019
Canada’s Next Leap of Faith
Article
November marks the 40th anniversary of Donald Macdonald’s Royal Commission on Canada’s Economic Prospects, with its signature recommendation to take a leap of faith on free trade with the United...
Date: Saturday November 5, 2022
The Future is Now: Creating Decent Work Post-Pandemic
Publication
Artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, the sharing economy and other emerging technologies were expected to upend the nature of how people work, eliminate an array of routine and repetitive tasks, and put pressure on social support frameworks designed for a different era. These impacts expected to be felt in the near to medium term suddenly find themselves present. The need to reinvent Canada's social and economic policy frameworks has a newfound urgency.
Date: Friday June 12, 2020
Place-Based Policy Options for Entrepreneurship in a Post-COVID Canada
Publication
As Canadians look forward to the economic recovery and governments herald a new normal, few signals have been given about its policy landscape, and even fewer about the role of small business and entrepreneurs in the post-COVID strategy. With the horizon now in sight, how can governments move quickly to put a shot in the arm of small businesses and entrepreneurs that are operating in disparate and localized challenges and conditions?
Date: Wednesday March 10, 2021
Automation, AI and COVID-19
Publication
A majority of Canadians indicate they have at least a basic understanding of AI and automation. Politicians have an opportunity to seize upon this perceived knowledge to address coming challenges by linking COVID-19 solutions to challenges — and potentially positives — presented by AI and automation. This new report by Peter Loewen and Blake Lee-Whiting shows signs that Canada has not seen a large populist backlash to the pandemic, but that could be coming, perhaps against immigration policies, if citizens feel the government is not following through on job creation.
Date: Wednesday June 23, 2021
Mapping the Landscape: Indigenous Skills Training and Jobs in Canada
Publication
Indigenous businesses are growing and — importantly — creating employment for others. Further, self-employment and entrepreneurship is increasing. If there is an opportunity for the next generation, and for current adult workers, to leapfrog into the future of Canadian work, it may very well be through Indigenous-led business.
Date: Thursday June 25, 2020
Automation, AI and Anxiety: Policy Preferred, Populism Possible
Publication
Who is fearful of automation and what do they want politicians to do about it? This paper finds a correlation between Canadians’ fear of job losses from automation and populist and nativist views—but also that Canadians favour traditional government policy approaches to job disruption, such as retraining, more than radical measures such as reducing immigration.
Date: Thursday July 11, 2019
Economic Equality in a Changing World: Removing Barriers to Employment for Women
Publication
Action is needed to alleviate gender barriers: Good intentions are no longer enough. Despite efforts to improve diversity in the workplace, gender inequality remains both an issue of social justice and an equally compelling economic priority. Yet efforts to advance women’s economic inclusion continue to be hampered by the lack of access to information. This report summarizes existing research and prevailing issues surrounding gender inequality, including those exacerbated by COVID-19, and points to further research that needs to be done on initiatives to reduce gender inequalities.
Date: Friday September 25, 2020
Pandemic Learning: Paid Micro-Training Opportunities for Post-Pandemic Recovery
Article
Broad, rapid government support received widespread support in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on their public opinion research, Peter Loewen and Blake Lee-Whiting argue that Canadians, especially those who lost income or jobs during the pandemic, would be eager to receive government-assisted skills training as part of that support.
Date: Monday June 28, 2021
Fault Lines and Common Ground
Publication
What divides urban and rural voters? What unites them? In this second report on the Urban-Rural divide in Canada, Sean Speer and his team take a closer look at the Canadian Election Study and find that urban and rural Canadians have divergent opinions on many key issues, but they also agree to a large extent on many others. As populism grows across the western world, policymakers in Canada need to understand the implications.
Date: Wednesday February 3, 2021
Science and Health Misinformation in the Digital Age
Publication
Following PPF's 2020 report, Science Disinformation in a Time of Pandemic, PPF renews the project to continue the conversation with 2021's new initiative, Responding to Science Disinformation. In this report, fellow Peter Loewen and Eric Merkley consider the ways in which technology has impacted the spread of misinformation throughout the public, and how and in what ways policy makers can challenge misinformation without stifling free speech and freedom of expression.
Date: Wednesday July 21, 2021
Skills Gaps, Underemployment, and Equity of Labour-Market Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities in Canada
Publication
While people with disabilities can achieve socially integrated, financially independent lives through secure, well-paid employment, they are often trapped in low-skill jobs at high risk of automation. Emile Tompa, Daniel Samosh and Normand Boucher underscore the importance of training opportunities that are well aligned with the skills likely to be in high demand in future.
Date: Tuesday January 28, 2020